Sam's Trek
by Angelus-2003
Summary: Sam leaps where no one has gone before
1. Default Chapter

****

Theorizing that one could time travel within his own lifetime, Dr Sam Beckett led an elite group of scientists into the desert to develop a top secret project known as, Quantum Leap.

Pressured to prove his theories or lose funding, Dr Beckett prematurely stepped into the project accelerator, and vanished. He awoke to find himself in the past, suffering from partial amnesia and facing a mirror image that was not his own.

Fortunately contact with his own time was maintained through brainwave transmissions with Al, the project observer, who appeared in the form of a hologram that only Dr Beckett can see and hear.

Trapped in the past, Dr Beckett finds himself leaping from life to life, putting things right that once went wrong, and hoping each time that his next leap, will be the leap home.

Sam: "I'm gonna tell you a story Beth, a story with a happy ending. But only if you believe me."   
  
Beth: "And if I don't?"   
  
Sam: "You will, I swear you will. But instead of starting with, once upon a time, let's start with the happy ending. Al's alive, and he's coming home."   
  
Beth gasped and smiled, she lifted her hand to her mouth, then lowered it again and uttered a laugh, Sam smiled as well, and leaped.

Captain Jonathan Archer was in his cabin getting ready to go and meet Trip and T'Pol for breakfast, when he felt strangely dizzy, It felt as if the ship was spinning on all three axis. He reached out and grabbed the side of the desk and everything around him vanished in a bright blue light. When he opened his eyes again, he was startled to find himself laying on his back on a hard surface. He slowly sat up and almost instantly, regretted it. He raised a hand to his head in a vain attempt to try to stop the intense pounding in his head.

Once it had subsided enough, he looked around the room, and saw nothing, The room was featureless. It contained nothing but the table he lay on.

Archer: "Hello? Is anyone here?"

Getting no reply, and frankly not expecting one, Jon shrugged and hopped down to the floor. He looked down and saw he was no longer even in uniform, instead he was wearing a white body suit, that seemed to fit tighter than the Sub-Commanders uniform. Wait a minute, who was this Sub- Commander?

Meanwhile, while Captain Archer struggled with his fragmented memory, outside the room he was in an argument was taking place. Navy Admiral (ret) Albert Calavicci, was pacing back and forth in front of the central console, it's colored cubes lighting up the stark whiteness of his dress uniform. Al had just returned from a very unpleasant meeting with the Sub-committee that over saw the Project's funding. All he had wanted to do was come back here, check up on whether Sam had leaped or not, and head home to Beth. He hadn't wanted to first words from Gushie's mouth to be that Sam was in the Waiting room.

Al: "What do you mean he's in there? That's impossible."

Gushie: "Look for yourself Admiral, It's Dr. Beckett."

Al strode over to the monitor and looked at the screen. Sure enough the man inside the room could have been Sam's twin. Al Shook his head and lit his cigar, It just wasn't possible. That last time Sam had leaped into himself, there had been no one in the waiting room. Al pointed this out to Gushie.

Gushie: "Perhaps he's really back then?"

Al looked at the blue ball that hung over the center of the room.

Al: "Ziggy, what are the odds of this?"

Ziggy, the hybrid computer that Dr. Beckett had created to run Quantum leap, waited a few moments before answering

Ziggy: "While the person in the waiting room does bare a similar resemblance to Dr. Beckett, it is not him. As you both know, whenever Dr Beckett leaps into someone, he assumes their form, while the other person assumes the form of Dr Beckett. If you would have asked me when you entered the room Admiral, I could have informed you of that."

Al shook his head and once again whished that Sam hadn't seen the need to give the super computer, a super ego.

Al: "Well fine then, if he's not Sam, then who is he, and where's Sam?"

Gushie: "Uhm, we don't know where Dr. Beckett is Admiral. And we have no data on who is in the waiting room."

Al just stared at Gushie in shock. The only other time that something like this had happened, Sam had leaped back to the Civil War.

Al: "Could Sam have leapt into the past again?"

Gushie: " We don't know Admiral. We can't seem to get a lock on him."

Al took a pull on his cigar and thought for a moment. "Gushie, you and Ziggy keep trying to find Sam, I'm gonna have a talk with the guy in there."

Al turned and headed up the ramp to the waiting room. At the top he reached over and hit the control and the door slid up into the ceiling. Stepping into the room, he saw that the person who looked so much like Sam was standing about 10 feet away from the exam table, it looked like Al's entrance had interrupted him.

Archer looked up at the sound of the door opening, he watched as an older man dressed in a uniform entered the room and stop. The man stood and stared for a minute before he smiled and walked up to the table Jon had been lying on. Jon studied the man's uniform, certain he had seen it someplace before, it was military, he was certain of that. He tried to recall where he had seen it, but his mind seemed to be full of holes. He was lucky he remembered his own name.

Al: "Hello, Are you feeling alright?"

Jon: "Hi, I'm feeling ok, could you tell me where I am?"

Al shook his head: "I'm sorry, I'm afraid I can't do that just yet. I was hoping to ask you a few questions to see.."

Jon: "You're in the military, aren't you?"

Al caught a little off guard by the interruption, answered "Yes, I was, but I'm retired."

Jon's mind filled in another hole. "United States, Navy right?"

Al: "Yes."

Jon's mind struggled to remember his history lessons. Finally he had it. The man was wearing the uniform worn by flag officers of the old U.S. Navy. But that wasn't right. Those uniforms hadn't been standard for more than a hundred years. What was going on here?

Al: "Can I ask what your name is?"

Jon: "Archer, Captain Jonathan Archer."

Al: "Captain huh, well Captain, My name is Admiral Calavicci. I can't tell you much about where you are, but I can tell you that you're safe and we'll try to get you back to where you belong as quick as we can."

Jon: "I see, you wouldn't happen to know anyone by the name Daniels would you?"

Al: "No, can't say as I do. Look I just came in here to make sure you were all right and see if you were ok, now if you'll excuse me, I have other things to attend to."

Jon watched as Al Turned and quickly left. As the door closed behind Al,

Jon quickly went over and tried to find a control box or something. But it was no use, the door became flush with the wall once it closed, and there didn't seem to be anything on this side to open it with.

Al walked back down the ramp and went over to the control console.

Al: "Anything yet?"

Gushie: "Admiral, you were only gone for 10 minutes. Surely you can't expect us to have found anything yet?"

Ziggy: "I did."

Gushie: "Then why didn't you say anything?"

Ziggy answered in that sultry pouty voice she had adopted of late. "You didn't ask."

Al sighed: "What did you find Ziggy?"

Ziggy: "There is a 87.9 percent probability that Dr Beckett is no longer leaping within his own lifetime."

Al: "But that's impossible…isn't it?"

Ziggy: "He has done it on three separate occasions Admiral."

Gushie: "Perhaps Dr. Beckett and the man in the waiting room share some relatives?"

Al: "Well get searching then, we'll need everything from the archives, start searching the past for Sam, we need…"

Ziggy: "That isn't necessary Admiral."

Al: "What do you mean it isn't necessary. Have you got a lock on Sam?"

Ziggy: "No, but Dr. Beckett is not in the past."

Al: "What do you mean."

Ziggy: "I have calculated a 92.3 percent probability, that Dr. Beckett has leapt into the future. And if that is the case, Then I am unable to lock onto him and you are unable to help him."

Al: "Then that would mean, that Sam is on his own."

Sam opened his eyes and looked around the small room he was in. Like most of his other leaps, he was left with a feeling of disorientation. The room he was in was small, hardly any bigger than his dorm room back in university. There was a desk and a double size bed and outside the window was, was, stars. Sam blinked and rubbed his eyes, He walked around the bed and over to the window, yup they were stars.

Sam: "Oh Boy."

Sam turned and looked around the room again, this was most assuredly the strangest leap he'd been on yet. He started to walk back over to the desk, as he passed by a small mirror hanging on the wall, he stopped and looked more fully at himself. The hair was a little shorter, and there were more lines around the eyes and mouth, but Sam would recognize the face that stared back at him if he were to leap forever and only see it a few times. It was his own.

Sam reached up and gently touched his face, even thought it looked like him, he knew that it wasn't. Something inside him just knew. Sam was broken from his thoughts by the barking of a dog, he looked down to see a small beagle pup. It was standing by his feet and vigorously wagging it's tail. Sam bent down and as soon as he was close enough, the dog began to lick his face.

Sam: "Easy there, knock it off, you're probably hungry aren't ya?"

At that, the dog barked again. Sam looked around and stood and opened a few doors, he finally found some food for the dog. After filling the small dish and making sure the animal had water, Sam went over and sat down at the desk.

_Leaping around in time has always been hard on me, not knowing who I had leaped into or why I was there. One minute I could be a man or a woman, a small child, or even a monkey. But now, once again I had been thrown a curve ball. I had leaped into myself, or at least someone who looks so much like me, it was scary. Once again I find myself in a strange place, and my only companion so far is a dog. And from the looks of it, I'm in space. I don't think I've ever been in space before. I really wish Al was here. I think this is going to be a hard one to get out of._

Sam was interrupted in his thoughts by a small chime. He looked around, trying to determine where it was coming from, when it sounded again a voice came with it.

"Tucker to the Captain."

Sam saw that voice was coming from a small panel on the wall, taking an educated guess that he was who was being called, he hit what looked like the right button and spoke into the panel.

Sam: "Uh, this is the Captain, go ahead."

Trip: "I was just wonderin' if you were plannin' on joinin' T'Pol n me for breakfast Cap'n?"

Sam: "Uh, breakfast, yeah, sure I'll be right there…..if I can find where there is."

Trip: "What'd you say Cap'n? I missed that last part."

Sam: "Oh nothing, I'll be along soon."

Trip: "Ok I'll make sure Chef keeps the eggs warm for ya."

With a click, the line died and Sam let out a heavy breath. How was he supposed to join these people for breakfast if he didn't even know where it was. Quickly he looked over at the desk, there wasn't much on it besides what looked like some type of monitor. From the depths of his mind came a term, voice activated. Sam realized it must have come from the memories of the person who he'd leaped into.

Sam: "Computer, show me the way to get from the Captains cabin, to the, mess hall?"

Within a moment a small diagram appeared on the screen, Sam studied it and saw that the route was fairly simple. He also took a few extra moments to do some checking, he found out he was onboard a Starship and he was the Captain, Jonathan Archer. And that it was the middle of the 22nd century. Now Sam knew he was in more trouble than he had thought. He stood and went to the door and was stymied to find there was no knob, nor was there anything that looked like it could be used to open the door. He reached out and pushed on it, nothing happened. After a few moments he noticed a small control panel set next to the door. He shook his head and hit a button. Again nothing happened.

Sam tried another button and succeeded in turning the lights out, he quickly hit it again. Sam tried three more buttons before hitting the correct one, noting it's placement on the panel, he hoped the same button opened other doors. As he walked down the hallway, other people wearing the same blue jumpsuit as he did greeted him, Sam guessed that these were the ships crew. He thought for a moment about what he had read on the small screen in his cabin. He was in the mid 2100's. That meant he had leaped well beyond his lifetime. Something had seriously gone a little 'caca' this time. Al better show up soon.

Sam finally came to where the mess hall was, and hit what he hoped was the right button to open the door, to his joy it worked and he entered a fair sized room, it was crowded with people. Many of them looked up as he entered, again they greeted him and smiled. He smiled and said hello to them, he looked around the room and saw a set of double doors that led into another room, from the diagram he knew that this was the captains private dining room. He headed there and once again the doors opened with the same button.

As he walked into the room, he saw that there was a man and woman already seated at the table across from one another. They looked at him as he went over to an empty seat. As he sat, the younger man smiled at him.

Trip: "Bout time you showed up, T'Pol and I thought you had gone and got lost."

T'Pol: "I had no such thoughts Commander. I was merely pointing out the fact that the Captain is rarely late for breakfast."

Sam: "Uh, I'm sorry, I was distracted…by…something.."

Sam stared at the beautiful woman to his right, something was off, her eyebrows tilted up, but that wasn't it, that could just be a fashion thing. Then it hit him, her ears, her ears were actually pointed! And her skin had a decidedly greenish tinge to it, he wondered if she was sick.

T'Pol: "Captain, is there something wrong?"

Sam blushed and looked away: "Huh? Uh no, nothing's wrong. I'm sorry, I seem to have a lot on my mind right now."

Trip: "I'm sure that communiqué ya got from Starfleet didn't help to much huh."

Sam: "Uh no, I guess not."

Trip: "Anything you want to let us in on?"

Sam thought quickly: "No, I'm sorry, Captain's eyes only, you understand."

Trip nodded: "Sure no problem."

Sam was saved having to try to say anything more by the stewards arriving with their breakfast. He saw that the Commander was having the same thing as he was, bacon and scrambled eggs. But the woman who he had called T'Pol was having only slices of fruit and what looked like a clear soup broth.

Sam: "Not in the mood for bacon and eggs?"

As soon as he had said the words, Sam knew he had said the wrong thing. Both T'Pol and the Commander stopped eating and were looking at him.

T'Pol: "You are aware of course Captain, that I do not eat any animal by-products."

Trip: "You know Jon, usually I'm the one trying to goad the Sub-Commander, what's up?"

Sam: "I'm, I'm sorry, that just slipped out, please accept my apology, T'Pol."

T'Pol: "It is unnecessary for you to apologize, no offence was taken."

Trip: "You sure you're feelin alright Cap'n? Maybe you should have Phlox check you out?"

Sam: "Yeah, maybe I should, I have been feeling a bit out of sorts. I'll go see him after breakfast."

T'Pol: "That would be only logical. I will take the Bridge while you visit Sickbay, Perhaps you need a day off?"

Sam: "Maybe."

The rest of their meal was at in silence. Sam couldn't stop himself from glancing over at T'Pol. He admittedly thought she was very beautiful. But the thing that seemed to mesmerize him, were here ears. At one point he found himself wondering what it would be like to run his fingers along them.

Meanwhile back in the early 21st century, Al was trying to get more information out of their visitor.

Al: "So you say you won't tell me anything unless I tell you something in return? A little bit of give and take huh?"

Jon: "That's correct Admiral."

Al: "Ok I guess we can do that. How bout an easy one then huh, what year is it?"

Jon: "You're serious?"

Al nodded

Jon: "2152"

Al whistled

Jon: "Now it's my turn. Where am I?"

Al: "Would you believe me if I told you, you're in New Mexico?"

Jon: "No actually I wouldn't."

Al: "Ok we'll come back to that later. You said you were a Captain, Where are you posted?"

Jon: "I'm commanding the Enterprise."

AL: "The Enterprise huh? Ok look this is gonna take too long why don't you just tell me what you can recall and I'll try to tell you what I can ok?"

Jon: "Alright. As I said, I'm Captain Jonathan Archer, I command the Enterprise, I'm sure you've heard of it. Anyways I was getting ready to go meet my senior staff for breakfast, the next thing I knew, I was here. Now are you going to tell me what's going on?"

Al sighed, he might as well level with the guy, they needed all the help they could get to try and contact Sam.

Al: "Ok, on the level. You said the year was 2152, you probably won't believe me but the year is actually 1999.You're on Earth in New Mexico. You've become caught up in a time travel experiment that went a little caca."

Jon: Time travel again, you're sure you don't know anyone named Daniels?"

Al: "No, let me finish, you see about 5 years ago, a good friend of mine named Sam Beckett began this experiment, and an accident happened. Now he leaps through time trying to help people, to set things right. He leaps in and replaces a certain person. Everyone around him thinks he's still the same person. The person he's leaped into comes here. Now to us, that person looks like Dr Beckett. Although, this time it isn't too much of a problem."

Jon: "Why is that?"

Al: "Well kid, you see it's like this. You two could be twins."

Jon: "You're saying we look the same?"

Al: "You two look so alike you could use each other to shave with. Look I gotta run, I need to tell this information to the other people who work here. I'll be back soon."

Jon watched the Admiral turn and leave, he laid his head back on the table and tried to think of why Starfleet had never had any information on something like this.

Al went back out into the control room, he saw that Gushie had been joined by the other programmer, Tina. Together the two of them were busy going over information on how Sam may have changed places with someone from the future.

Al: "Ziggy, I think I found out what year Sam is in, he's about 153 years ahead of us, the captain in there said he was from 2152."

Ziggy: "I believe I may have a way to enable you to find Dr Beckett Admiral."

Al: "Really? What is it?"

Ziggy: "We simply inject you with some of Captain Archer's genetic material. There is a 97 percent probability this will allow us to establish a lock on where Dr Beckett is."

Al turned to Gushie. "This true?"

Gushie: "Well it looks like it would work."

Ziggy: "Of course it will work, I thought of it."

Al shrugged, what other choice did they have. He gave the go ahead. But first he'd have to go tell this Archer guy they were gonna be poking holes in him.

Sam had not actually gone to see this Dr Phlox, instead he had returned to the relative safety of his cabin. It was a good thing that the photographic recall part of his memory hadn't been swiss cheesed this time around, or he'd still be wandering the halls.

Sam knew this was only a temporary reprieve, eventually he'd have to show up on the Bridge and look like he knew what was going on. Taking a chance, he checked the computer again and with a little luck found the ships log. Apparently the ship had just escaped an encounter with some aliens who had tried to posses the crew, they had been called 'Wisps'. Currently, the ship was holding position while the crew were dealing with some damage to the ship that had occurred at that time.

Sam read as much of the logs as he could, he also located and read up on what seemed to be the command crew of the ship. Good thing he was a fast reader. Finally feeling like he was as ready as he would ever be with out Al's help, Sam decided to go ahead and try to find out why he was here. He left his cabin and headed for Sickbay, he figured he may as well pay it a visit as someone may ask about it. Luckily it wasn't too far away and on the same deck. He approached the doors with the standard medical signs on them and keyed them open.

Phlox looked up from his microscope and smiled as he saw the Captain walk in.

Phlox: "Ah good morning Captain. How can I help you hmmm?"

Sam stopped and stared for a moment. He thought the woman with the pointed ears had been different. Now he saw he had been wrong. Well no time to think about it, Sam mumbled out a reply.

Sam: "Good morning Doctor. I uh, I have a slight headache, and I was wondering if there was anything you could give me for it?"

Phlox: "Certainly, my boy, please have a seat and I'll be just a moment."

Sam sat on the bed indicated, and watched the Doctor wander off. He took a few moments to look around the room in awe. He was pretty sure he had never been in any type of hospital or clinic in any of his leaps, that had been this advanced. Sam was about to hop off the bed and take a look at the big thing that looked like an MRI machine when the Doctor returned.

Phlox: "Here we go Captain, this should have you all better in no time."

Phlox pressed the hypospray against Sam's neck, he was slightly surprised to see him jump as he injected him.

Phlox: "Are you alright Captain?"

Sam: "Huh, oh yes I'm uh fine. Just have, uh a lot on my mind."

Phlox: "I understand, if you feel the headache returning, feel free to come back, my door is always open."

Sam looked in astonishment as the Doctor's face split into a grin that Sam was sure was not possible, it literally stretched ear to ear. Sam hopped down off the bed and made a hasty retreat from Sickbay. With that part over he now had the daunting task of going to the Bridge and trying to act like the ships real captain.

Finally making his way to the Bridge, Sam stepped out of the elevator and looked around. It was arranged in a circular design with manned stations around the perimeter. In a central well the was another station and a single chair, rising out of the chair and looking at him questioningly, was the woman from breakfast. Sam remembered her name was T'Pol. He decided he better say something and fast, now everyone was beginning to stare at him.

Sam: "Uh, report T'Pol."

T'Pol: "All systems are normal, the damage we encountered while fleeing from the Wisps vessel should be repaired shortly, Commander Tucker refuses to give me an exact time, he simply states that he'll be finished when he's finished."

Sam: "Ok, very well."

T'Pol walked past him and sat down at the station nearest the lift, Sam guessed it was where she normally sat. He nodded to the other members on the Bridge and was relieved to see them smile in turn and resume their work. Sam gingerly stepped down into the command area and slowly sat down in the center chair. Feeling the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, he quickly turned his head to his left and found T'Pol staring at him, her right eyebrow was raised up. Sam wondered what that meant.

He decided to play it safe and smiled at her. T'Pol merely blinked once, slowly, and turned her chair away from him and looked into some type of small viewer. Sam sighed and looked around once again. Now that he was here, he had absolutely no idea of what to do next.

Al: "Tell them you'll be in your ready room."

Sam jumped, then tried to hide the abrupt movement by moving around in his chair. He then stood and looked around.

Al: "The door on the right."

Sam: "I'll uh be in the ready room if anyone needs me."

Before Sam got two feet, T'Pol spoke up.

T'Pol: "Captain, is there anything wrong? You seem unusually, tense this morning. Can I be of any assistance?"

Al: "Oh you bet you can be. You can.."

Sam: "Al!, I mean I'll be fine, I just had a rough night, thanks for the offer though."

T'Pol merely nodded and watched with a quizzical look as Sam left the Bridge.

Once he was safely in the ready room, Sam turned on Al.

Sam: "It's about time you showed up, what took you so long?"

Al: "I'm sorry Sam, we had a hell of a time trying to find you, thankfully Ziggy came up with the idea of using some of your host's DNA to try to find you and make contact. You won't believe this Sam, but you're in the future."

Sam: "Yeah I kinda figured that out already. What is going on? How can I be here? I do remember that I'm not supposed to be able to leap past my own lifetime."

Al: "Yeah, well I'm not sure if you remember it or not, but once you leapt back to the civil war, due to you sharing some genetic material with the host, it appears the same thing's happened again, you and this Archer fella are related. Ziggy's still working on how."

Sam: "Ok skip the family tree part Al, why am I here?"

Al began punching buttons on the hand link: "Oh yeah, well we're still trying to figure that one out, but Ziggy says there's a 48 purse…purse? Oh percent chance you're here to save one of your crew members from killing himself. You also have a 63.6 percent chance on saving Archer's life, and that there's a 59 percent chance that you're here to hook up two of the crew."

Sam: "Any idea on the crew member I'm supposed to help or why I need, I mean Archer needs saving?"

Al punched a few more buttons, which resulted on a short squeal from the link, Al scowled and hit the hand link, it emitted a sharp screech. "Uh no, nothing yet, but don't worry, we've got this Archer guy helping us out from the waiting room, it shouldn't be too long before we have anything."

Sam: "Ok, how about on who I'm supposed to play matchmaker for?"

Al looked at the link and smiled: "Oh you're gonna like this Sam, you know the babe in the cat suit out there? It looks like you're here to set her up with, oh now this is really good."

Sam sighed: "Will you get to the point."

Al: "Alright already, apparently you may be here to make sure that she and Archer recognize their true feelings for one another."

Sam: "What is it with you and trying to hook me up with someone?"

Al: "Hey, I'm not the one doing the number crunchin' here buddy, this comes right from Ziggy"

Al walks around the ready room, his head passes through the support beams, he continues talking, gesturing with his cigar. "Besides, from the looks of her, and by what she's wearing, you could do a lot worse."

Sam: "Can we just set that aside for now and try to figure out the other two possibilities?"

Al: "But Sam, what if you an her were to.."

Sam: "No"

Al: "Aw c'mon.."

Sam: "AL!"

Al: "Alright, spoilsport, you really need to get out more. We really don't have much on what's been going on, getting information outta Archer has been like trying to get more funding outta the Senate over committee."

Sam: "Have Verbeena talk with him, tell him we're trying to get things back to normal as fast as we can, but we can't do that until we get some help from him."

Al: "Already doing it. Hopefully we'll have you outta here before you have to actually do any Captain stuff."

And with a small wave Al opened the Imaging Chamber door and disappeared. Sam sighed and walked over to the chair behind the desk, intending to sit down and try to learn more about what was going on in this time, unfortunately not being all that familier with the design of the ready room, he walked smack dab into one of the support beams. Sam staggered back and placed his hand against the rapidly forming bump.

Sam: "Ouch! Damnit, who designed this stupid thing anyways, didn't they give any thought that people may actually want to walk around in here?"

T'Pol: "Apparently, Enterprises designers may have come to the conclusion that the person in question would know when to duck."

Sam whirled around to see T'Pol standing in the open doorway.

Sam: "Uh, hi, I mean, what can I do for you?"

T'Pol held out a PADD to Sam, he looked at it for a moment and then reached out and took it, sitting on the end of the desk as he did so.

T'Pol: "I was merely bringing you the duty roster for today." T'Pol looked a bit more intently at Sam "Do you require medical attention?"

Sam was still rubbing the bruise on his forehead. "Huh? Uh no, no thanks I'll be ok, maybe it knocked some sense into me."

T'Pol: "One can only hope."

Sam just stared at her, T'Pol merely stared back, finally unable to match her will power, and the fact that his head was really starting to hurt, Sam looked away.

Sam: "I'll look this over later, was there anything else you needed?"

T'Pol: "No, Captain, But I would like to once again offer any assistance if you may need it."

Sam caught the pause in her sentence when she had called him Captain, he wondered for a moment if she knew he was not the real Captain Archer. Quickly he stood, too quickly it seemed, a wave of dizziness engulfed him, he reached out to try to grab the desk again but felt strong arms grab onto him and keep him from falling over.

T'Pol: "Captain, are you alright?"

Sam: "I'm fine, just a little dizzy, it should pass."

Sam reached up and grasped T'Pol's hand, he held it only for a moment, as he stood straighter. "Perhaps I should go pay another visit to the Doctor, make sure I'm ship shape." With that he released her hand.

T'Pol stood there and nodded absently, when the captain had taken her hand in his, it had been unexpected, she had not the time necessary in order to reinforce her mental shields. His minds briefly brushed against hers, and what her mind perceived, left her bewildered, and very curious.

The man walking out of the ready room, the man who looked like, sounded like, smelled like Jonathan Archer, was not the man she knew. It was as if he had been replaced with someone completely different. Then one word came to T'Pol's minds and escaped her lips in a whisper before she could suppress it.

T'Pol: "Wisps"

T'Pol turned again to find she had been to late, the Captain, or the being posing as the Captain had left the ready room. Quickly she exited the room herself, to find he had also departed from the Bridge. She looked around, noting that everyone else was going about their normal duties as if everything were the same. T'Pol looked over at Hoshi.

T'Pol: "Ensign Sato, please contact Commander Tucker, have him come to the ready room."

Hoshi: "Aye ma'am."

Hoshi watched as T'Pol looked over at the door to the turbo lift as if she were trying to decide on a course of action. Then Hoshi saw T'Pol settle her shoulders back in her normal Vulcan manner and return to the ready room. Hoshi turned back to her board and keyed the COMM for Engineering.

Hoshi: "Bridge to Cmdr. Tucker."

Trip: "Tucker here, what's up Hoshi?"

Hoshi: "The Sub-Commander wants to see you in the ready room ASAP Trip."

Trip: "What's wrong? Where's the Cap'n?"

Hoshi: "He left the Bridge, he said he had to go to sickbay, he had a bruise on his head, I'm betting he walked into one of the support beams in the ready room again."

Trip chuckled: "He ain't done that in over a year. Must have something on his mind, I'll be right up."

True to his word, in less than five minutes, Trip was walking through the second door into the ready room, he looked at T'Pol sitting behind the desk.

Trip: "I hear Jon gave himself a good rap on the noggin."

T'Pol: "Correct, Captain Archer injured his head rather severely when it came into contact with the bracing in this room."

Trip: "And is that why you called me all the way up here? To tell me Jon got himself a boo boo?"

T'Pol: "No commander, I requested your presence here as I have reason to believe the Captain, may have been taken over by a Wisp."

Trip: "Whoa, back up a sec there, we destroyed them remember? What makes you think one of them has the Cap'n?"

T'Pol: "I had come in here to give the Captain the daily crew roster, he had already hit his head by the time I entered the room, we talked for a few moments, then when he attempted to stand, he staggered, so I offered assistance by reaching out to steady him, I am not sure why, but he grasped my hand, I was, unprepared for the contact, and I touched his mind."

Trip: "You what?"

T'Pol sighed: "As you know Commander, I am a touch telepath, although my skills are relatively low, I am still able to touch another beings mind. When the Captain's hand came into contact with mine, our minds touched. It did not feel like the Captain, it felt, different. Before I was able to pick up anything else, the contact was ended."

Trip: "Where's the Cap'n now?"

T'Pol: "He has gone to see Doctor Phlox."

Trip: "Well there ya go, the doc'll check him over, and if anything's wrong, he'll let us know. There's no need to get yerself all in a fuss about it."

T'Pol: "I assure you Commander, I was not in a fuss, as you put it. I was concerned. Concerned for this ship and crew, and the Captain."

**__**


	2. Chapter 2

Sam walked along the deck towards Sickbay, he had every intention of getting checked out, mainly due to the fact that his head was really beginning to hurt. As he turned the corner he ran into Al, or rather he ran through Al.

Al: "Sam, I hate it when you do that."

Sam quickly looked around to make sure no one was around before he replied. : "Yeah well I've told you to quit popping in like that. Got anything new for me?"

Al: "Not much, we're doing all we can with what Captain Archer has been able to tell us, his brain is as Swiss cheesed as yours is."

Sam: "Well I hope you guys can narrow down what I'm supposed to do here, having three choices isn't making this easy, if I pick the wrong one, I may be stuck here."

Al: "Well maybe not, I shouldn't be telling you this, but in other leaps when you failed to do what you were sent in for, you simply leaped into a different person in that same time and place to do the same job."

Sam: "Great, so if I don't do this as Archer, I could leap into who? His dog?"

Al simply shrugs: "I don't know Sam, but look I just wanted to check in on you and let you know we're trying to get you out of this ok."

With that Al steps through the Imaging chamber door, which to Sam looks simply like a bright rectangular light, Sam reaches out longingly towards the door, but before his fingers come close to its image, it vanishes. Sam sighs and walks into Sickbay. He is greeted cheerfully by Phlox.

Phlox: "Ahh, Captain, good afternoon, what can I do for you?"

Sam: "I uh, wasn't paying attention and, walked into one of the beams in the ready room, think you can give me something for the headache?"

Phlox: "Certainly, come right this way, I just want to take a quick look at what you did."

Phlox lead Sam over to the bed in the middle of the room, he motioned for Sam to hop up onto it.

Phlox: "Now Captain, I just want to take a quick scan and make sure you didn't do more damage than would be normal."

Sam: "Sure doc, no problem."

Sam lay down on the bed and was mildly surprised when it slid into the machine that reminded him of an MRI scanner, he was even more surprised when a small gate slid closed over the opening, effectively trapping him inside.

Phlox: "Now lay still and try not to move around too much Captain, or this will take longer than necessary."

Phlox activated the scanner and waited while it took the required readings.

After a few minutes it stopped, the gate slid open and the bed rolled out.

Phlox: "There we are Captain, not so bad was it?"

Sam: "Besides a brief touch of claustrophobia, no not really."

Phlox smiled and looked at the readings, he gazed at them for a few minutes before returning to Sam, he had picked up a hypo spray on his way and quickly injected it into Sam's neck.

Phlox: "There we are Captain, this should help with the pain and bring down any swelling, any harder and I would have had to remove you from the duty roster, you almost gave yourself a concussion. As it is I want you to take the rest of the day off. If you feel any dizziness or if the pain returns, please let me know as soon as you can."

Sam: "Alright thanks doc, I think I'll go get a bite to eat."

Phlox watched Sam leave, as soon as the doors had closed behind him, he quickly went over to the Comm and called the bridge.

"Phlox to T'Pol."

"T'Pol here, go ahead Doctor."

Phlox: "The Captain was just here, I scanned him as you requested, I have the results for you if you wish to see them."

T'Pol: "Very well Doctor, I shall be down there shortly."

With in five minutes of signing off, T'Pol was walking through the doors to Sickbay.

T'Pol: "What have you found out Doctor?"

Phlox: "I placed the Captain into the imaging scanner and took detailed scans of his mind, I then compared them with those I already have on file from his last check up a month ago."

Phlox motioned for T'Pol to come over to the big monitor above the imaging scanner, he pointed out to her the various images.

Phlox: "On the left I have the scans on file, on the right are the scans I took moments ago."

T'Pol studied the images for a few moments: "I see no difference in them Doctor."

Phlox: "That's because there isn't one, other than this, this area here shows stronger activity than normal, but the readings are not consistent with those I took of the crew that had been taken over by the Wisps."

T'Pol: "So that Captain has not been replaced by one of them. What does the stimulated area imply?"

Phlox: "Basically that he's under more stress than usual, I gave him a shot for his head injury and relived him of duty for the rest of the day. So you can now relax, Captain Archer is the same man he's always been."

T'Pol: "Thank you for your assistance Doctor, would you know where the Captain has gone?"

Phlox: "I believe he mentioned something about getting a bite to eat."

T'Pol: "Thank you Doctor."

T'Pol turned and left Sickbay, as Phlox watched her go, he mused to himself.

Phlox: **_For a Vulcan, she does a better job than most at hiding her true feelings for the Captain, I wonder what it would take for the two of them to finally admit how they really feel about the other_**

T'Pol walked towards the mess hall deep in thought, she had touched the captains mind, she could tell it was different, that it was not right.Despite what the Doctors scans had revealed, she decided for the safety of the ship, she would approach the Captain and question him. She walked through the nearly full mess hall, only then recalling it was the mid shift break that most crew took. She headed for the doors to the Captains private dining room. She pressed the button announcing her presence, after a moment she heard the Captain telling her to enter.

Sam had been standing at the porthole gazing out at the stars. All his life he had always wanted to be out here. It was one of the other things inside him he had needed to do, almost as much as building Quantum Leap had been, so he could save Tom. Suddenly another hole in Sam's memory filled in, Tom was his brother, he had gone to Vietnam, and died, but no, that wasn't quite right either...he had saved Tom...hadn't he? Sam shook his head, frustrated at his failing memory. Sam was pulled from his memories by an electronic bell, he wondered what it was for a moment before recalling it meant someone was at the door.

Sam called out for the person to enter, he stayed facing the window, hoping that whoever entered wouldn't e able to see the frustration etched into Sam's face. In the reflection from the window, he watched as the...as the...Vulcan, that was it, walked into the room. Sam wondered to himself why Archer had never tried to take his relationship with the woman beyond a professional one, she was simply and utterly, beautiful.

Sam: "What can I do for you Sub-Commander?"

T'Pol: "Captain I have come to ask you something, however, I am uncertain of how to proceed."

Sam turned to face her and saw in her eyes that she was confused.

"Well, say whatever comes into your head first."

T'Pol: "Very well, Who are you and what have you done with the Captain."

Sam was floored, he just stood and stared at the woman for a moment before recovering his wits about him

Sam: "I'm sorry, what did you just say?"

T'pol: "I have reason to believe you are not Captain Archer, you may have his appearance and his scent, but you do not act like him, nor do you think like him."

Sam was getting worried, never before had an adult figured out he was not the person he was replacing...at least he didn't think any one had.

Sam: "I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about Sub-Commander, I admit I may be a little distracted and off my game after the recent attack by the Wisp's, but I think that hardly qualifies you to tell me I'm not myself just by guessing."

T'Pol tilted her head to one side and raised her eyebrow.

T'Pol: "Vulcans do not guess, In the ready room, when you felt dizzy, you touched my hand with yours, my mind momentarily brushed yours, in that breif moment, I knew you were not the Captain."

Sam: "Uhm, you're telling me you read my mind?"

T'Pol: "No, I did however pick up surface impressions of confusion and doubt. Also you had a great fear of not wanting to be discovered, and a deep longing for home. These things have led me to ascertain that you are not who you appear to be."

Sam slowly sat down at the table, T'Pol merely stood and watched him. She did not know what to make of the situation. Yes those things she had said, she believed were true, but there was something else she had experienced in her quick touch on this persons mind. The was something that felt familiar to her, that made her doubt what she was now doing. Even though she had definatly felt a different presence than Jonathan Archer, there was still something of him there, but what she could not say.

Sam sat quietly for a moment, before replying. "How would you react if I told you, you were right?"

T'Pol: "I would call for security and have you held until we could contact Star Fleet."

Sam: "I see, well I'm sorry to dissapoint you Sub-Commander, but I'm that same person I've always been. I'm guessing you've already been to see Phlox and saw the scans he took correct?"

T'Pol: "That is correct."

Sam: "And I would bet that those scans had shown that there was nothing wrong, correct?"

T'Pol paused for a moment before answering: "Also correct"

Sam: "I see, Do you think that Star Fleet would go with what little evidence you have, or with what Phlox has?"

T'Pol: "If this were Vulcan..."

Sam: "But it's not. Answer the question...please"

T'Pol realized he was right, Star Fleet would indeed take the word of the ships doctor, who had medical evidence to back up what he said, over her, which was based on something that few Humans knew about.

T'Pol: "I see your point. However, that does not change what I felt."

Sam scratched his head and sat for another moment, his head tilted slightly, as if he were listening to something.

Sam: "How long has it been since you got any rest T'Pol?"

T'Pol: "I believe that is of no consequence."

Sam: "Indulge me, how long?"

T'Pol: "It has been 18 hours since we escaped from the Wisp's in that time I have had many duties to perform in order to see to the safe...."

Sam cut her off: "So in that time you've had no rest, other than the breakfast this morning, and little to no time for your meditation right?"

T'Pol let out an imperceptible sigh. "That is correct."

Sam nodded: "So then don't you think that maybe what you may have thought what you felt when we touched, may have been due to fatigue and lack of meditation?"

T'Pol pondered that for a few moments: "It is possible that may have been the case"

Sam: "Very well, why don't we chalk this up to, an over active imagination and lack of rest."

T'Pol: "Vulcans don't imagine Captain."

Sam: "I see, well how about just plain old, lack of proper rest?"

T'Pol merely nodded, she felt foolish for saying what she had. Replaying everything over in her head, she saw that what he said may have indeed been true.

T'pol: "Captain if you will forgive me, I believe I owe you an apology."

Sam: "Think nothing of it T'Pol, with everything that's happened lately there's nothing to apologise for. I won't tell anyone if you don't. Now I'm relieving you of your duties for the rest of the day, and ordering you to get some rest."

T'Pol: "Captain I believe...."

Sam: "No buts T'Pol, dismissed."

T'Pol raised here eyebrow again, but didn't say anything, instead she merely nodded and turned and left the room.

Once the doors had closed, Sam let out a huge sigh and turned to the two holograms standing beside him. One was Al, and the other was a man who could have been his twin. Al had popped in just as the Vulcan had dropped her little bombshell, he had then left and got Sam some reinforcements. Al had his hand on Archers shoulder, this contact allowed Sam to see and hear what Archer had said, Sam merely repeated back everything he had said.

Sam wanted the two to stay and talk he needed Archer's advice and his skills, but Al informed them that the strain of locking on to his location with the both of them and making sure Sam could see and hear both of them was taking a big toll on Ziggy and the project. Before they left though Archer did pass on one thing to Sam.

Archer: "Don't let her win too many of the arguments, remember, you're the Captain and it's your ship. The Admiral informs me that there's no telling when we may switch back, but I want a ship to come back to."

Sam nodded and smiled as the two holograms exited through the Imaging Chamber door. As always, Sam felt a deep sense of loss when the door closed.


	3. Chapter 3

As time passed Sam found it was becoming easier to play the part of captain, of course a lot of reading of Archers personal logs had helped him get a handle on how the man thought, and occasionally there were brief times he was able to talk to Archer himself and get advice on how to do things. Al had informed Sam one day that Ziggy had been able to narrow down the reasons why Sam was on the starship, with much help from both Sam and Archer.

Sam had been sitting in Archers cabin reading when Al had popped in.

Al: "Hey kid, whatcha doin'"

Sam: "Al, it's been days where have you been?"

Al: "Yeah sorry about that Sam, but the last time we tried the three way linkup with you, me an Archer, it really did a number on Ziggy's power reserves and we lost one of the generators. It took us until yesterday to get it back up and the techs spent most of today making sure it would stay running."

Sam: "I see, any news for me? Like how about when I'll get out of here?"

Al: "Well with what you've been able to tell us and what we've got from Archer, Ziggy thinks she's narrowed down the reason why you're here."

Sam: "You said reason, not reasons. Does Ziggy now think I'm here for one purpose instead of three?"

Al: "Yeah, and she's got it pegged at a 79 probability."

Sam: "Well what is it?"

Al: "You're here to get Captain Archer and T'Pol together."

Sam sighed: "Al, I'm not sure about that, I've been trying this last week to meet her on common ground. She's unlike any woman I've ever met, she's so different I barely know where to start. And I really don't think she likes me."

Al: "You gotta try Sam or we'll never get you outta here."

Sam: "Alright Al, maybe I'll see if I've still got part of your neurons from when we simo-leaped a while back."

Al: "Hey, you remembered that?"

Sam: "Yeah, just before I said it."

Al smiled and took a puff of his ciger. The handlink gave an annoying squeal and Al looked down at it.

Al: "Oh uh Ziggy says that I gotta get pack…pack?" Al smacks the hand link "Oh back, I guess the power is still kinda fluctuating. Hopefully I'll be back soon buddy."

Sam nods and watches Al depart. He then stands up and begins to pace in his small cabin. Porthos watches the strange man who looks like his master but smells..blue, very carefully.

After a few moments Sam stops his pacing and heads for the door. He figured that if he was ever gonna get Archer and T'pol together he was going to have to start small, like maybe asking her to tomorrows movie. Sam heads down the corridor towards T'Pol's cabin. He is feeling almost giddy, and quite nervous, almost as much as when Lisa Parson asked him to the dance after the big game when he was 16. Sam stopped in the middle of the corridor. He remembered that! He also remembered when he leaped into himself to change the outcome of that game. Sam closed his eyes and fought back a sudden wave of emotion. It had felt so good seeing his family again, especially his father.

Sam waited for a few moments, once he figured he was back under control he once again headed for T'Pol's cabin. Arriving there he had to stop himself from doing a little primping. He reached ot and rang the door buzzer, after a few moments the door opened to reveal T'pol in her night clothes. A set of what looked to be blue silk or satin pj's

Sam: "Oh boy."

T'Pol: "Captain?"

Sam: "Huh?"

T'Pol: "Was there something you required of me Captain?"

Sam: "Uh yeah…oh I mean yes T'Pol, I was wondering what you were doing tomorrow night?"

T'pol: "I have currently nothing planned after my duty shift ends.

Sam: "I see, well I was wondering if you would like to come to the movie with me tomorrow night.?"

T'Pol: "I had no inclination of attending it Captain."

Sam's heart fell."

T'Pol: "However. Since I have already mentioned that I have nothing else planned for tomorrow I shall accompany you."

Sam: "That's great. I'll pick you up before it starts."

T'Pol: "That would be adequate."

Sam: "Well, goodnight then."

T'Pol nods her head and watches as her Captain leaves, presumably back to his own cabin. As the door closed she turned and sat at her meditation candle once again. The Captains behavior and attitude towards her this past week had become somewhat, strange. It was almost as if he were attempting, in a rather clumsy way, of trying to be more friendly and attentive to her. As she gazed into the light shed by her candle she tried once again to settle her thoughts. She had almost found her center when a stray thought flittered through her sub-conscious mind. It was from two days earlier when she had been running in the gym, Captain Archer and Commander Tucker had come in and were playing an Earth game called 'basketball'.

T'pol had tried to keep her focus but had found it increasingly difficult to do so when the two men had been joined by Ensign Mayweather and Lt. Reed. The ensign and the Captain had 'paired' off as had Lt Reed and Cdr Tucker. T'pol began to watch them as the Captain and Mr Tucker had begun to have some type of argument, she had been about to intervene to see if there was a problem when it had apparently been settled. To T'Pol's surprise, both the Captain and Mr Mayweather began to disrobe. To her relief the two men had only removed their shirts. She had later found out that this was a variation of the game known as 'shirts n skins'.

T'Pol had turned her attention back to her running, and soon found her concentration lagging. Again she tried to focus on her exercise and was shortly hampered by a distraction. Turning she caught sight of her 'distraction', Captain Archer. Or rather a shirtless sweaty Captain Archer. T'Pol found herself watching him as he moved, as the muscles under his skin moved. She found it rather strange that humans were so…hairy. Vulcan males had little to no body hair. After that, T'Pol had found she no longer had the will to exercise while the Captain was playing his game half naked. She immediately left the gym, after watching the Captain for another 10 minutes.

T'Pol sighed and realized that she would be unable to continue her meditation tonight with so many errant thoughts roaming her head. Having the Captain stop by in the middle of it had been no help to her control whatso ever. So had had to fight the impulse to ask him inside and remove his shirt to seewhat the hair on his chest felt like under her fingers. T'pol shook her head and admonished herself for thinking such things about her superior officer.

T'Pol leaned down and blew out the candle and as the flam went out, she finallt forced such lecherous thoughts about Jonathan Archer deep into the back of her mind.

Sam walked down the corridor back towards his cabin, he had a smile on his face and was humming to himself. He felt good in a way. He had started on what he hoped wouldn't be too long of a road to getting these two people together. As he neared his door he noticed Trip coming the other way. In his brief time here, Sam had found it refreshingly easy to fall into the habit of calling Charles Tucker III by his nickname.

Sam: "Hey Trip what are you doing up and around? Don't you have and engineering staff meeting at 9 am?"

Trip: "Yeah, but I was feelin' kinda restless and so I thought I'd head on down an grab some warm milk to help me sleep."

Sam: "Warm milk? Why didn't you just go get something from Phlox?"

Trip: "Ah shucks Jon, ya know I hate goin' to see him. An besides, we both know that if I went to him it'd be all over the ship in less than a day that I was havin' troubles sleepin'."

Sam smiled. "I wouldn't worry too much about what people think of you Trip."

Trip laughed: "Yeah that's true. Hey, never mind me, what're you doin' up?"

Sam looked at the deck: "I was just taking a walk, and thought I'd make a gesture."

Trip: "A gesture? What kinda gesture?"

Sam: "Uh well, I was, um, I kinda asked someone to the movie tomorrow night."

Trip: "Oh ho!! Is that why you all so happy an such. Who was it?"

Sam: "Trip I don't know if I should tell you, you're almost as big a blab as Phlox."

Trip: "Hey, I'm just trying to make sure no bad rumours gets started. Let me guess, um hmm, let's see you're coming from down the deck, you've got a smile on, you're kinda blushing. And there's a strange kinda smell around you, almost like it was sumthin' burnin'. Oh my god1 you asked T'Pol!"

Sam: "Trip…"

Trip starts laughing. "Naw I shoulda seen it sooner, the way you're always trying to get on her good side, how you've been paying so much attention to her at breakfast the past week. Hah, good for you Jon."

Sam was surprised. "You mean you're happy?"

Trip: "Well yeah sorta. I figure it's about time the two of you came outta your shells. Maybe you can teach her to open up more an quit bein' such an ice queen."

Sam: "Well I don't want to hear anything about this from the crew by lunch time tomorrow, you hear me? And besides, it's only a movie."

Trip: "lound n clear Cap'n. Not a peep from me. And everythings gotta start somewhere, have a good night Jon."

The two men went their separate ways. Unfortunatley none of the three of them would be able to find out how the movie date would have gone, as 6 hours later, Enterprise was intercepted by three Klingon D5 cruisers. Sam was taken away by them, arrested for crimes against the Kligon Empire. Sam figured this had something to do with Enterprise helping a goup of refugees trying to escape from the Klingons. While Sam awaited his 'trial' in his cell, he hoped that Al would be there soon with advice on what the hell he was supposed to do to get out of this one.

Sam was pacing back and forth in his cell when he Saw Al step out of the wall in front of him. Sam let out an audible sigh of relief.

Sam: "Al! It's about time you showed up, what the heck am I supposed to do about this?"

Al: "Now take it easy Sam, I was up on that fancy ship of yours and you got nothing to worry about, they're doing all they can to help you out. How are you doing?"

Sam: "Not too bad, Doctor phlox was here yesterday and gave me a quick check up, the food here isn't all that great. I'm holding my own. I just wish they'd let me tell my side of what happened, everything that Duras fella said was a bunch of lies."

Al: "Look Sam I can't stay, Ziggy's been having fits since she found out that Archer knew nothing about her or the project. Her ego won't let her believe she may not exist in the future. You'll get outta here buddy. Don't worry."

Sam sighed and sat down on the hard bench as Al disappeared. He decided to get some sleep and prayed tomorrow would be better.

Sam stood in the docket and stared at the Judge. He couldn't believe what he'd just heard. Even after telling the true events of what happened. They'd still sentenced him to life on a penal colony. And not just him but Kolos as well. Sam had nothing left to say as they were led away by the guards.

On Enterprise. T'Pol and the rest of the bridge crew sat in silence after Hoshi relayed the message to them from the Klingons. Their captain was being sent to a frozen world to spend what ever remained of his life. And T'pol knew that once you've been sent to Rura Penthe, your life was not expected to last long. She had to do something. Despite the captains orders about leaving. T'pol knew she had to get him back. Unfortunately they had been ordered out of Klingon space. She knew they had to act quickly in order to be able to do anything. However, as she explained to Commander Tucker, she had an idea.

Sam lay shivering on his bunk during the sleep period, he hurt in more areas than he thought he had. His beating by the guards for trying to protect kolos sure didn't help his situation much, and having no Al around to talk to wasn't making it any easier on him. Sam lay there wondering where Al was until finally sleep and the dreams claimed him.

_Al: "I know it hurts Sam, but you did the right thing."_

_Sam: "I always do….I always do the right thing. And what does it get me? Why can I save strangers and not the people I love."_

_Al: "I don't know."……_

_Sam: "Gimme one day."_

_Tom: "What day?_

_Sam: "The 8th of April."_

_Al: "The day Tom is killed."_

_Tom: "How'm I supposed to give you a day?"_

_Sam: "By doin what I ask?"_

_Tom: "Which is?"_

_Sam: "Find the deepest hole you can and crawl into it for 24 hours."_

_Tom: "Oh Sam." ………_

_Al: "You did it Sam, you changed history, everything is working out just as Ziggy predicted."_

_Sam: "What bout Tom, What about my brother?"_

_Al looks down at the hand link and his face drops. "I'm sorry Sam, he's still killed in Vietnam."_

_Sam feels his heart catch in his throat, as looks up towards the stands to see his Brother as he yells his name._

_Tom: "Sam! Hoo Yaa! Alright little brother!"_

_Sam reaches his arm out towards Tom as he feels himself being pulled away by the start of the leap._

_Sam: "TOM!!!!!_

Sam awoke with a start, every night it was a different dream, they al related to his previous leaps. Tonight was when he had been leaped into himself when he was 14.

Sam: "I don't know how much longer I can take this.

The next shift brought some good news for Sam it took the form of Lt Reed who with the help of T'Pol and her contacts she had formed, had been able to sneak Reed into the mines and then take both Sam and Malcolm back out and return them to Enterprise. Sam's only sad feeling was having to leave Kolos behind. He knew the old Klingon wouldn't survive his sentence.

Sam's next surprise was once he had been back onboard the ship he had been greeted warmly by the senoir crew. All but T'Pol. She had merely stopped by sickbay for an update on his progress from Phlox, and that was it. Sam felt dejected. He had thought he had been finally able to win her over a bit. But maybe he was wrong. Al finally turned up again explaining that Ziggy was still in a snit and they were no closer to figuring out how to get Sam to leap. They wren't exactly capable of doong him much good while he was in the future. There were no records they could access or anything. And while Jonathan Archer did all he could. It wasn't enough. Al had no idea how long Sam would be here.

Later that night while Sam dozed in sickbay, Phlox had kept him there for a few days to make sure he was ok, Sam received a visitor. T'Pol stood quietly att he foot of the bed and watched the man she though of as her Captain. But lately she had begun to think of him in another way. He was her friend, that she would readily admit to. However, she now also saw him as maybe something more, and it confused her. Thoughts of him permeated her waking hours, and even invaded her meditation.

She gazed down on his sleeping form and came to a decision. Tomorrow she would need to have a serious talk with him. And for good or bad. Things between them would change.


	4. Conclusion

Sam awoke in the middle of the night, his head was ponding and he was still pretty cold, he sat up and went in search of another blanket. As Sam quietly proweled sickbay looking for where the doctor kept all his spare blankets, the sound of the imaging chamber door opening alerted him to Al's presence.

Al: "Hey Sam, how ya doing?"

Sam: "I'm freezing, how are you?"

Al: "Not too bad, though it's been a kick in the butt these last few weeks hasen't it?"

Sam: "Yeah I guess."

Sam finally found what he was searching for, and with the hologram trailing behind, he returned to the bed.

Sam: "Anything new going on?"

Al: "No not much, tho Senetor Weitzman is breathing down our necks again, guess he must be up for re-election. We got our approval for the upgrades to Ziggy. Other than that, same old stuff."

Sam Was about to say more when he heard the doors to sickbay open, through the flimsy cloth that surrounded his bed he could just make out that the person wasn't Dr. Phlox. If he wasn't mistaken, judging by the body size and shape, it could be T'Pol. His assumption was proven correct seconds later when from the other side of the curtain, T'Pols voice whispered to him.

T'Pol: "Captain, are you awake?"

Sam quickly glance at Al, who had a big grin on his face.

Sam: "Yes Sub-commander, what can I do for you?"

T'Pol pulled back the curtain and came to stand by the bed, walking unknowingly through Al as she did so.

Al: "Hey, careful there."

Sam didn't say anything, he had figured out enough about T'Pol to figure she would catch anything he said.

T'Pol: "Captain, I was hopeing you had a few minutes to discuss something."

Sam: "Sure T'Pol, I'm not going anywhere, what'd you want to talk about?"

T'Pol: "This is rather difficult for me so I ask you to be patient with me while I gather my thoughts appropriately."

Sam merely nodded, more than a little confused.

T'Pol: "In recent weeks you and I have been spending more and more time together. I have come to find myself growing accustomed to your presence. When you were taken away by the Klingons, no… when you have been taken away all the other times, I have felt a great sense of loss. At those other times I merely thought it was due to the stress of the situation. I have come to now realize that it was much more than that."

Sam sat up more on the bed, he folowed T'Pol as she began to pace, but wisely kept his mouth shut. Al was having kittens standing in the corner.

Al: "Well isn't that a kick in the butt, she's telling you she likes you."

T'Pol: "I have come to value the friendship we have together and I trust you with my life. I hope that you feel the same way about our friendship and trust me as well."

Sam: "I trust you T'Pol, you know that. I believe our friendship will always last, no matter what."

T'Pol: "It is pleasing to hear you say as much. I wish to also tell you, that, I wish to know if it would be possible, for you and I, to perhaps, explore what may happen if that friendship, were to be extended?"

Sam: "How do you mean, extended?"

T'Pol sighed, she sat down on the stool near the bed and looked at him. She was having a hard time saying what she needed to say. She was unaccustomed to this.

T'Pol: "I wish to know if we could become t'hy'la."

Sam: "Sorry? T'hy'la?"

T'Pol: "In your language it means friend…lifelong companion…lover…"

Sam saw that T'Pol's face was taking on a more greenish colouring, and she was averting her eyes. Sam suddenly realized she was blushing.

Sam looked at her and in his innocent way realized she was asking to begin a relationship with him, or rather specifically with Archer. He quickly looked over at Al who had miraculously stayed quiet through most of it.

Al: "Say yes Sam. This is what you're here for remember?"

Sam: "T'Pol, are you saying that you want to try and see if we could begin a relationship?"

T'Pol: "In a way yes, do you not have feelings for me that are more than just friendship? Or have my assumptions been in error?"

Sam: "No, I do feel more than friendship for you, I just wasn't expection you to come right out and say we should begin dating."

T'Pol: "Dating?"

Sam: "Uh what men and women do on Earth. When they're in a relationship, or just trying to start one."

T'pol: "I see, then that is what I am asking. I wish to date you."

Sam smiled. He had never had a woman as beautiful as T'Pol ask to date him before.

Sam: "I would like to date you to T'Pol."

T'Pol stood and sam saw her face was a blank mask of non-emotion again, but there was something in her eyes, a kind of twinkle. He smiled.

T'Pol: "Very well then Captain…."

Sam: "Jonathan, if we're going to be dating, you can call me Jonathan."

T'Pol: "As you wish, Jonathan. But not when we are on duty. I must be going, I have to meditate and I wished to discuss this with you before I did so. Have a good night, Jonathan."

Sam: "You to T'Pol, see you tomorrow."

T'Pol nodded and turned and left. Sam could have just been seeing things but he was sure she was walking more, confidently.

After a few moments of quiet, Sam looked at Al.

Sam: "Ok….I'm still here, what's going on Al?"

Al: "I'm not sure kid. Ziggy says that according to her calculations you should have leaped as soon as the two of you agreed to start a relationship." 

Sam: "I think you better ask Ziggy to run her projections again. Cause something is definatley wrong."

Al punched a few buttons on the handlink and the door opened behind him, "Don't worry Sam, we'll get you outta here."

Sam watched Al practically leap through the door. He sighed and laid back down on the bed. Well atleast they got the major hurdle out of the way. Maybe all he had to do was tell her she looked nice and he'd leap. Sam yawned and figured he'd do it tomorrow. Soon he was asleep.

Mean while at Project Quantum Leap, things were a little more hectic.

Al: "What do you mean you won't run a new series of projections?"

Ziggy: "it is not my fault Admiral that Dr becjett has not leaped. I did the best I could with several limiting factors."

Donna: "Ziggy, what kind of limiting factors?"

Ziggy: "That no one had the foresight to program me with the eventuality that Dr Beckett may leap into the future…"

Al: "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Sam was only supposed to be able to leap within his own lifetime. And up until he leaped in Captain Archer here, he was doing that, well except for a couple of occasions."

Ziggy: "It is not stupid Admiral. Did no one think that 'leaping within his own lifetime' could also mean until the time he eventually dies? This will happen in the future. I was only programmed with events from Dr Beckett's birth to the present."

Donna: "Ziggy, if you felt it was an error in your programming, why didn't you mention it?"

Ziggy: "No one asked Dr Ellese. No one ever came up with the theory, besides Dr Beckett himself. And he only mentioned it once, before he leaped."

Donna looked at Al: "Did he ever say anything to you?"

Al: "Nope not a word. I guess we were all kind of at fault on this one. We all just figured he'd leap into the past, never forward."

Donna: "Ok Ziggy, we admit we made a mistake, now will you run new projections to see why Sam hasn't leaped?"

Ziggy: "I already have. I can calculate now with a 96 accuracy that Dr Beckett has leapt into Captain jonathan Archer in order to have him and the Vulcan T'pol form a relationship."

Al: "Look you nozzel, we already know that, Sam has gotten this T'Pol to admit she feels more for Arche rthan just friendship, and Sam said he felt more as well. Wich Archer had confirmed. The two of them agreed to begin dating, what more do you need?"

Ziggy: "Perhaps Admiral, they merely need to consumate the agreement."

Al: "They gotta have sex?"

Donna caught on to what Ziggy was saying: "No Al, not sex, but maybe something simpler."

Suddenly it dawned on Al, and he just smiled.

Sam was walking down the corridor on his way to breakfast. Phlox had just released him and told him to take it easy fot the next few days. He was still ulling over why he hadn't leaped when Al popped in beside him.

Al: "Kiss her."

Sam stopped dead in his tracks.

Sam: "What?"

Al: "We figured it out Sam, you gotta kiss her."

Sam: "Are you sure?"

Al: "Not fully but it's the best we could come up with."

Sam shook his head "I wouldn't even know how to do it right without scaring her off."

Al: "You know how kid, trust me, you've done it a million times before."

Sam sighed and continued on to the Mess hall, once ther he nodded and said hi to the crew that were there, then he went into Archers private dining room. He faltered momentarily when he saw T'Pol was already there.

Al: "Now's your chance."

Sam whispered "Not yet"

T'Pol: "Not yet what Captain?"

Sam: "Uh I hadn't expected to see you yet that's all. You look nice this morning."

T'pol watched him as he sat down "Thank you, as do you."

Sam and T'Pol ate their breakfasts, T'pol would fill sam in on ships business and all was fairly normal. Until Sam hit on how to proceed with Al's idea. He waited until the steward cleared the dishes and they were once again alone.

Sam: "T'pol, are you still sure you wish to have a relationship?"

T'Pol: "I meditated on it extensively last night after our discussion, and I am willing to 'make a go of it' as you humans say."

Sam smiled: "That's good, cause it allows me to do something I've been wanting to do for quite a while."

T'pol raised her eyebrow. "And what is that?"

Sam stood and made his way to her side of the table. He leaned down and looked in her eyes.

Sam: "Trust me."

Before T'pol could say she did, he placed his lips on hers. After a few moments she relaxed and allowed Sam to deepen the kiss, she reached up and placed her hands behind his nack. The two stayed locked in the kiss for a few minutes. Finally Sam pulled back enough to look into her eyes.

T'Pol: "Jonathan, that was…"

Sam: "Incredible…"

And he leaped.

Sam opened his eyes after the blue light had faded. He was surrounded by darkness he felt as if he was in a closet. He reached out to find a light switch and his fingers only went a few inches before painfully jamming against a hard barrier. Sam used a few minutes to discover he wasn't in a closet. He was in a coffin.

Sam: "Oh boy…."


End file.
